The Ballet comes to me

Normally I have to travel some distance to watch ballet but today the ballet came to me. To be more precise Northern Ballet performed Elves and the Shoemaker in The Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield. I have seen quite a lot of children's ballets with Vlad the Lad lately: English National Ballet's My First Ballet: Coppelia, Ballet Black's Dogs Don't Do Ballet and Ballet Theatre UK's Aladdin last week. I saw this one on my own (andI was by no means the only unaccompanied adult) and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Unlike the other children's shows this ballet comes with live music. The score was composed by Philip Feeney who had written the music for Cinderella (see Northern Ballet's Cinderella - a Triumph! 27 Dec 2013 and Cinderella Even Better 30 Nov 2014). The choreography was by Daniel de Andrade who had created Fatal Kiss for the Sapphire gala. The sets were by Ali Allen. And the company deployed some of its best dancers including some of my very favourite.

The show is now touring the country and making three stops at the capital - the Linbury, Richmond and Bromley - so I will have three opportunities to take Vlad to see it. Earlier today I tweeted that I wonder whether I would be allowed to throw flowers on stage as audiences used to at Covent Garden before the flower and veg market moved to Nine Elms. I thought better of it but I really wish I hadn't because Bettina, Maggie, Snatch, Frances and Pearl as well as their men fork really deserved them.